


Binary Sunset - A Star Wars Fanfiction

by mermanfromdownunder



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Backstory, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fanfiction, Force Sensitivity, Jedi Ben Solo, Kylo Ren Angst, Kylo Ren Backstory, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Slavery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 06:13:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18277436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mermanfromdownunder/pseuds/mermanfromdownunder
Summary: Ben Solo and his master and uncle Luke Skywalker begin to explore the edges of the Unknown Regions and Wild Space in search of Jedi artifacts and relics. However, on the stormy hub world of Phindus the two Jedi discover a young bartender with a secret.





	Binary Sunset - A Star Wars Fanfiction

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A torrent of wind flooded in through the thick quadanium steel doors of the tavern the moment they were opened. Two humanoids and a droid entered and immediately closed the reinforced door behind them. Both humanoids were dressed in rain sodden light coloured cloaks and robes, not common on Phindus, at least not to Iella. She herself was an oddity on the storm plagued planet, there weren't many humans, and even less human females. And none, to her knowledge at least, younger than her. 

"There's a droid charging station over by the far wall if you need it." Iella called out from behind the bar. The slightly larger of the two humanoids used the end of their sleeve to wipe water off the blue and silver dome of the droid before commanding it over to the bay. 

The two beings turned towards the bar and lifted the hoods back, revealing themselves as human. A long dark haired man, not much older than Iella and a older man with short greying brownish hair. As they approached, Iella got a good look at them, as she usually did in case there was an incident and she'd have to identify someone to the local authorities. But these two were peculiar. They were offworlders, no doubt about that, which wasn't uncommon for Phindus. Quite the contrary, the world was a hub of offworld traffic stopping off before entering wild space or daring to explore the Unknown Regions. And the Engorged Scardax had many regular patrons from far off systems in the outer rim and beyond who would stay the night while waiting for particularly bad weather to blow over, ship repairs or have a drink while waiting for cargo to be loaded. The climate inside the tavern was pleasant, thanks to repurposed moisture vaporators to dehumidify the interior and collect the water for cleaning. 

"What will it be gentleman?" Iella asked as the men took their seats at the bar. She looked to the older man first for his order, which was how she was taught to tend the bar, older freighter pilots always liked to be served prior to everyone else.

The younger man picked up one of the datapads stacked neatly in a rack on the bar and scrolled through the menu. 

"Do you have Bantha milk by any chance?" The older man asked with an inquisitively tender voice. 

Iella thought for a moment before replying. "Hmmm, we don't currently. Haven't had a shipment in a few cycles. But Etharl Root Milk is quite similar, would you like a glass of that?" 

"That would be fine, thank you." The man smiled. 

Iella returned the smile then turned to his companion, who was still trawling through the menu. "And for you?" 

The younger man's gaze shifted onto Iella, his voice was velvety and soft. "Caf, please, Also a slice of wasaka berry pie if you have it." 

"You're in luck, I think I have a slice left in the conservator." She said with a wink, turning and heading into the back. "A glass of Etharl Root Milk, mug of caf and a slice of wasaka berry pie coming up. Make yourselves comfortable!" 

 

Iella flicked on the caf dispenser before heading over to the conservator, pulling out a pre-made slice of pie and placing it in the heating draw. "How do you like your caf?" The combined sound of the caf dispenser and heating draw as well as the distance made it a necessity to shout. 

"Plain is fine, thank you!" The younger man replied. 

A short moment later Iella returned with a milky yellow beverage in a tall slender glass with a thick straw and placed it in front of the older man atop a coaster, before heading back into the back briefly and returning with the heated slice of pie on a small plate in one hand and a mug of caf in the other. 

She place the items down in front of the other man and retrieved a fork and small cylinder each of sweetener and cream from under the bar, incase he changed his mind. "Enjoy!" The young bartender said with a genuine smile. 

The two men started to consume their meals. The younger man blew the rim of his caff mug before taking a sip of the steaming liquid. The older one drew a small amount of the viscous fluid up the wide straw, and grinned with delight after it had reached his mouth. 

"That stuff's pretty good. You know, I've been trying to find someone who makes a decent glass of Bantha Milk for the last twenty years. Nobody could ever make it like my Aunt did. Apparently I needed to branch out, try something new. Thank you..." The older man confided in her, clearly searching for her name. 

"Iella." She said happily. She was always happy to please her customers. 

"Iella, a beautiful name. One of my friends married a young lady by that name." The older man said, seeming to remember days gone by for a moment before snapping back into reality. The younger man set his caf down and took a mouthful of pie. "I'm Luke by the way. And this is my nephew, Ben." He gestured to the other man with a gloved hand. 

"Nice to meet you both, we don't get too many humans out this far, so it's nice to see some friendly faces. Don't think I've ever seen a human who enjoys the complex flavour of wasaka berry pie. The Wookie crews like to enjoy a taste of home when they stop by. I keep a few punnets in storage." Iella said, fishing of more information on the strange pair. 

"His other uncle introduced him to it, he's a Wookie." Luke said softly, but at any volume Ben would have heard him, and he rolled his eyes in response.

"I see. What brings you to Phindus? Obviously not here for a sunny vacation." The bartender mused, wiping down a portion of the bar across from the pair. 

Ben smirked before taking another sip of caf to wash down the pie he had finished off. 

"Oh, just passing through, seeing the sights of the galaxy." Luke said before he took another long sip of his beverage. His words weren't harsh and Iella could tell that he was telling the truth, unlike some patrons. 

"Well, best of luck on your travels, were ever you end up. Hopefully the weather is nicer than here." 

"After living on a desert planet for almost twenty years, I find this much rain to be, unusually pleasant." Luke chuckled. 

After the two men had finished their beverages, they both stood from their seats. Luke rummaged through his utility belt's pouch, giving Iella a good look under his cloak. She saw a weapon of some kind, definitely not like any blaster she'd seen, more like a hilt of a vibrosword, clipped onto the belt at his side. 

"Aaah, what do I owe ya?" The older man asked. 

"Well, what have ya got? Aurodium, wupiupi? Heck, I take most things, since I gotta exchange them anyway." The bartender replied. 

Luke pulled out a few shards of green crystal from one of the pouches. "You take nova crystals?"

Ben looked over at the shards in Luke's hand, bewildered by their complex structure and vibrant colour and how they interacted with the dull light. They almost looked like kyber crystals, but he couldn't feel the same distinct force signature that the lightsaber powering crystal resonate with force users. 

"Woah, that's probably enough to get you a room for a month, or buy a speeder from Caidilos next door." Iella was surprised to see the somewhat rare currency. 

Luke reached over and slid the crystals into her hand. "Well good. We'd like two rooms then."

"Okay. Rooms are just down the hallway. How long are you staying?" She placed the crystals in a lock box under the bar and retrieved two keycards, laying them in Luke's hand. 

"We haven't decided yet. I'll let you know." The man said, passing one of the keycards to his nephew.

Ben took it out of Luke's hand and felt the weight of it in his own. "Thank you for the pie, and the caf." He expressed with genuine gratitude.

"It was my pleasure gentlemen. Gimme a buzz on the comms in your room if you need anything else." Iella said with a beaming smile. 

The two men nodded with a short bow and retreated down the hallway, the silver and blue headed droid following behind. 

Buildings were rarely ever multiple levels on Phindus, due to the high wind speed during the night cycle that would eventually break even the strongest multi-level structures in the galaxy. The building layout reminded Luke a lot of Tatooine, a place he thought he would never see again when he left with Obi-Wan Kenobi, two and a half decades ago. But he had returned there only four years later to rescue Han and was glad he hadn't been back since. 

Ben swiped his keycard in the scanner to the corresponding room and the door chimed, sliding open before him. The room was fairly small, luxury compared to the quarters on the Millennium Falcon, but still enough for two humanoids to share if desired or necessary. Before he could enter, he heard a bang and some muffled voices come from behind him. 

"Why didn't you charge them extra? You could have milked them for more, but you didn't you worthless wretch!" An alien male yelled in basic with a heavy accent. "I don't know why I keep you around, you haven't even cleaned the kitchen from last night!"

Ben looked to his uncle for solace, but Luke didn't give him any. He hit the door close button on his room and brushed past his master. 

"Don't do it Ben. Ben!" Luke yelled after him down the hall before following after. 

Ben rounded the corner quickly. He could see a portion of the kitchen from behind the bar. An alien that Ben didn't recognise the species of had Iella pressed firmly up against the wall in a choke. The alien immediately noticed he was being watched by not one, but two beings, and let the young woman down abruptly, then back handed her across the face.

"It's not the Jedi way to get involved Ben. You must remain unbiased…." The old man said quietly. 

"I can't just stand by when someone is in trouble, surely a Jedi would help." The younger man replied.

"Not anymore…….." Luke finished. 

The alien came slowly up to the bar, a look on his face that could have meant a variety of different emotions to those unfamiliar with his species, of which the pair of humans were. 

"We must have been undercharged for our lovely rooms, please accept this as the missing payment. My humblest apologies." Ben said in his most charming core world 'Senatorial' impression, retrieving a handful of credits from his pouch and stacking them neatly on the wooden bar. 

The alien collected the credit stack off the bar and counted them, and only grunted in approval before heading back out the way he came in, at the rear of the kitchen, lockbox and credits in hand. 

As soon as the door shut behind the large alien, Ben vaulted over the bar, leaving Luke standing there half impressed at how his apprentice had handed that situation. Obviously he had learnt a thing or two from his parents, the fake senatorial over-politeness from his mother and how to dodge a confrontation from his father. Although, maybe he got both from his mother; Luke couldn't remember a time Han had gotten out of trouble completely unscathed. 

Once Ben was at Iella's crumpled and shaking body, he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and took off his cloak and wrapped it around her. 

"Please…. There's no need, you, you didn't have to pay him any more." She said between sobs. 

"It's okay Iella. He's gone now, you are safe and that's what matters." Ben comforted. 

Luke wandered into the kitchen with a grim look on his face. "I'm assuming your 'boss' has you run this place while he goes off to have fun?" 

The bartender said nothing, but wiped her face on her sleeve. Sitting against the wall had exposed her ankles; Her dark coloured pants left a gap between her boots and Luke was the first to notice a device strapped to her left leg. A metal clamp with a small antenna sticking up and a flashing indicator light. Ben soon saw what his master was eyeing off and came to the same conclusion without saying a word. She was a slave. 

"I am sorry for the trouble we caused." Luke tried to amend, reaching out his human hand instead of his metallic one to the young woman. She took it, and with the help of Ben they got the shaken bartender to her feet. 

"Would you like some caf? Some water maybe?" Ben asked, repositioning his cloak to sit more securely on her. 

"I'm fine, really. Thank you, thank you both." She headed over to the bar and politely ushered them back to their rooms, passing Ben's cloak back to him before retreating into the kitchen. 

Luke had only just entered his room and brushed his hand over the droids smooth dome when Ben stormed in behind him. Before the younger man could speak, Luke raised his hand. "I get it, you want to rescue her. The thing is you can't.…"

"Because it's not the Jedi way?!" His apprentice said with a hint of fury. 

Luke paused for a moment. "Because we don't have the money."

"Can't we just break the clamp off?" 

"Not if you want her to live. I've seen clamps like that, they can do anything from stunning you to blowing the slave's leg off. An effective deterrent against escaping and for someone attempting to get it off without the remote." 

"Well we'll just have to get the remote. We will go ask for it, take it if necessary." 

The older man breathed deeply. "Ben, please, forget about her. We can't meddle in every dispute we come across. And if you try to free every slave, scavenger and servant you meet in the galaxy…"

Ben cut him off. "It's not everyone, just her."

"What about the next planet we go to? What then?"

"She deserves better."

Luke felt something, a ripple in the force. "You are right. She does deserve better."

"You felt that too?" Ben asked. But Luke said nothing, walking briskly past Ben and out of the room.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there, I hope you enjoyed this. If you want to see more of this, please leave a kudos and a comment. It helps motivate me to write more often. :) In the mean time, check out my other stories, there may be something else to tide you over until the next chapter is out. If you'd like learn more about my works, please drop me a line on Instagram (@mermanfromdownunder)


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